Headlight-controller.



11. THOMPSON. H DLIIGHT CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2. 1911A 1,021,279. Y f n Patented Mar. 26, 1912;

UNiTnn sraras PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS THOMSON, OF ARLINGTON, MASSAHUSETTS.

-EADLIGH'ICONTRGLBER.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRANCIS E. THOMP- soN, a citizen of t-he United States, residing at Arlington, in the county of Middlesex and-State of Massachusetts, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Headlightf Controllers, of which 'the following is a specication.

' This invention relates to search lights for automobiles.

More particularly it relates to means for mounting and controlling such lights.

The'object of the invention is to provide means by which a single Search light may be employed for illuminating the road in front, automatically throwing the illumination to either side according to Vthe changes in direction of the forward wheels, and for throwing the illumination at the will Vof the driver in any other direction., as,` for example, upon a signboard at the side of they road; and, in cases where the forward wheels are turned 'to an extreme degree, automatically throwing the illumination `to a .still greater degree than that to which the wheels are turned, so as to illuminate the ground to which the wheels are leading the car more perfectly than is the case when the turning of the light is the same as that of the wheels. These objects are attained by the means hereinafter described, reference being had to the drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the invention. .Y

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a front elevation; Fig. 3 is a plan, on an enlarged scale, on the line'3-3 of Fig. l1; Fig. 4 is a vertical elevation, in section, of a detail, on a'large sca-le; and Fig. 5 isla plan in section on the line 5 5 of- Fig. 4. f

V In the/drawinga a4 portion of an automobile body is represented, in which the dashboard is marked 10, the hood overthe en gine 11, vthe steering shaft 12, and the steering wheel 13.. These parts may be of any suitableor desired type, The Search light, which also may be of any desired type, is marked 14, and has a handle 15 by which the light may be projected in various directions .at.will, under circumstances hereinafter defined. The light is supportedv'on .a

shaft 16 which is, by intervening mecha- Specilcation of'L-etters .'Eatent; P'tnhgd 3131*, 26,1912,

Application led March 2, 1911. Serial No. 611,782.

nism, connected with the steering shaft 12. This mechanism, as represented, consists of bevel gears 17 by which lany movementof the steering wheel 13 is communicated to' a short auxiliary shaft 18,whence it is communicated by a sprocket chain 19 to ashaft 20, the extent of movement of shaft 20 being in raccorda-nce with the extent of turning of the steering wheel 13. On this shaft 20` is an elliptical segmental gear 21 which meshes with an elliptical segmental gear 22, which, under certain circumstances, is connected with the sha ft 16 that turns the search light.

.This second segment is mounted vona jack shaft 23 to which the shaft 16 that carries the light is joined. The junction is effected.

in the peculiar manner seen lin Fig. 4, where 'the upper end `of the shaft 23 is seen to be hollowed so that it can receive the lower end of. shaft 16 which, at that point,`is reduced in size. This is alsoseen in Fig. 5; and by comparing these two figures, the arrangement of pin 16 on shaft 16,y which rides in the horizontal slot 23 in the upper part of shaft 23, is clearly seen. The top of shaft 23 is formed with a notch 24, which is preferably in front, as indicated; and the top of the shaft on the rear side is cut away as indicated at 25, in Figs. L1 and 5.v l

The shaft 16 carries a sleeve 26 keyed upon it,which normally pressed downward by spring 27, and which-has a projecting tooth 28 adapted to engage in the notch 24 of the jack shaft 28, locking the shaft 16 and 23 together when thus engaged, so that any rotation of shaft 23 causes shaft 16 to rotate a like amount. Ther shell tube 29 may conveniently be provided for housing the parts last described.

.A spring, one form` of which is illustrated I in Figs. 1 and, Ll, is provided, which, being anchored `'on the shaftA 23 and pressing against the shaft 16 or shell 29 surrounding it, maintains that shaftV 16 normallvcforward,y in the position illustrated, with its.

which the elliptical gears play, protectdjby a housing 31'. The shaft `20 and its connections to the steering column are conveniently placed on the forward side of the dashboard where they are protected by the l hood 11. e

In operation, in normal running, every movement of the steering wheels turns the shaft 20. and, therefore, the shaft 16 and lamp 14, in the same, direction in., which the wheels arev turned. j. For ordinary runningalong the road, it is desired to have the light illumine the road some distancein advance; andsince therbeam of light broadens as'the -distance increases, all needs are yadequately served by" a`relatively slight turning ofthe lamp when the wheels 'are turned, asin going from one side of the road to the other,

- without materially removing the illumina-- tipn from the whole road in front. When a right angled, or 'other corner, of considerable angle, is to be'turned, or a turning of lthe automobile around .to face in the opposite` direction, the considerable turn of the steering wheels gives the forward end of the car such relatively rapid lateral motion that the car may quickly travel out of the zone' which is illuminated, if the light be turned onlyI as much as the wheels are turned. f The' "purpose of the part of the invention now being described is to provide means for yautomatically illuminating the ground upon;

4which the car isv about to enter when it is thus turning rapidly to either side. This is accomplished by means of the elliptical V s segments.` When the .wheel 13 is turned.

considerably, thus turning shaft proportionately, those teeth of gear 21 which are Consequently, the beam thrown by the light turns in advance of theturning of the forward wheels, illuminating the ground upon which they are about to lead the car. By designing the elliptical segments with :due

regard to the ygearing between the steering wheel and frontwheels found'in the par-v lticular car to -which the invention is `to be applied, the degree which this zone of illumination laterally precedes the front wheels may be fixed at pleasure.

The construction described is capable of adaptation. to another use, which some driversdrnay consider even more important. than that just described. By transposing the position of the segmental elliptical gears 21 and 22, the result will be that a slight 5 'turning of the car-steering mechanism from the normal will turn the light a greater degree. This will enable a driver to illumine the side of anoad while proceeding along it, the slight deviation of steering incidentally involved being not more than can be readily compa'ssed while proceeding at ordinary speed. To use the light for illuminating an object in some other direction, as, for eX- ample, the nameon a signboard beside the road, which would not come within the scope of road illumination, the separable connection, with a one-toothed loclr` or mesh between shafts 16 and Q3, is made. The driver, grasping -handle 15, pulls it backward a little, in which case the lamp and shaft 16 swing backward on- 16 as a pivot. This, leaves the tooth "28, out of mesh with the anotchl 2i on shaft 23; and shaft 16 is then free tobe turned at will to the right or left, to-the 'full' scope of slot 23. When the particular object has been accomplished, it is necessary to return the lamp to its connection for automatic operation. 'If the disconnection between the shafts had been `made, as might be done, by throwing gears out of mesh, instead of using the described construction, it would be uncertain whether they would come together in the same mesh from which they separated. It is herein provided that the gears 21 and 22 and the other gears, remain always in mesh;and a separate disconnecting means is provided in which there is a single tooth and a single notch. Having disconnected the lamp and turnedV it to any desired degree by hand, the operator swings it again to its uprightposition, aided by the spring 30, and then turns it about until the tooth 28v falls into the notch 24. As there is but one tooth and one notch, the connection thus`"re'stablished is precisely like the `connection which was breken; and the automatic operation of the light will be resumed in perfect register.

Then the shaft 16 is `tilted backward, the' sleeve 26 rides on the cut-away surface 25- at the top of shaft 23, so that its tooth 28 is lifted and'held out of the notch 24. The sleeve 26 may rise, compressing its spring 27, as much as is necessary, the spring forcing the sleeve back so that the tooth is ready to renter its notch when they register.

I claim:

1,. A device for mounting and controlling headlights, comprising a steering shaft; a vertical lamp shifting shaft; connections between the steering shaft and the lamp shifting shaft; a second verticalshaft carrying the lamp above and in alinement with the lamp shifting shaft: a one point separable connection between the'two shafts, and manually `opera ted means to disconnect and swing. the l mp carrying shaft'at will and reestablish. 'the' original connection. y

l 2. lA device for mounting and controlling` headlights, comprising connections between Vthe heacllight and the car steering Wheel, wheel is turned for* a large ang-glad turn of said connections including a pairof' ellipgtheear.` l tical gears in mesh, one of Which is actuated 1 Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, 'by the steering Wheel and has a smaller this 21st day of January, 1911*.

radius chan the driven gear at normal posi- I FRANCISYE. THOMPSON. A

'tion,' ]g r0gressively increasing as the gear is "Witnesses: l

turned, to cause the lamp t0 be turned slowly l JOSEPH T. BRENNAN,

at the outset and rapidly as the steering MARY AQOBRIEN. 

